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Ketamine offers an opportunity for normal life unmatched by any medication I know of when given off-label for chronic treatment of intractable pain, treatment resistant depression, bipolar depression, juvenile bipolar disorder. It is one of the safest medications I have prescribed in 41 years of medicine. I have never seen anything more effective – it is not a cure, but remission is highly possible. Please refer to peer reviewed references since 2009 on this website on ketamine and depression or pain. Read elsewhere about street drugs, junkies, addicts and media headlines.

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Never Ketamine Alone

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Ketamine is short acting no matter how it is given.

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I never prescribe ketamine by itself – a fools errand; the religion of ketamine is like the religion of opioids. Decades of intractable conditions and chronic neuroinflammation require more than one short acting drug and usually require a multi-disciplinary approach. I work with psychologists or psychiatrists and other specialists when indicated.

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Entourage effect

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DRUGS ARE LIKE POLITICIANS. A FAMOUS POLITICIAN MAY WALK UNRECOGNIZED, BUT WHEN YOU SURROUND HIM OR HERWITH MANY PEOPLE, EVEN OF LESSER STATUS, THE POLITICIAN HAS A FAR MORE POWERFUL EFFECT.

2001 – prescribed for outpatient care of chronic intractable pain

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2009 – writing about ketamine, neuro-inflammation and glial modulators on this site, with classic references to publications from the foremost peer reviewed journals, including low dose naltrexone, oxytocin.

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Dosing

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Depression, Bipolar Disorder, Juvenile Bipolar/FOH, treatment resistant – may need a dose only twice daily or every 3 days. The dose and frequency of use cannot be predicted – it is idiosyncratic – look up that word.

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Intractable pain – dosing and frequency of medications is very different than for depression.

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My work with these medications, these glial modulators, is too extensive to annotate on these pages. This website since April 2009 has references for context and guidance with active links to peer reviewed publications. Example:

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RESULTS:

Ketamine administration was associated with a substantial reduction in measures of mania, fear of harm and aggression. Significant improvement was observed in mood, anxiety and behavioral symptoms, attention/executive functions, insomnia, parasomnias and sleep inertia. Treatment was generally well-tolerated.

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CONCLUSIONS:

Intranasal ketamine administration in treatment-resistant youth with BD-FOH produced marked improvement in all symptomatic dimensions. A rapid, substantial therapeutic response, with only minimal side effects was observed. Formal clinical trials to assess safety and efficacy are warranted.

ABSTRACT:

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We observed that ketamine rapidly activated the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway, leading to increased synaptic signaling proteins and increased number and function of new spine synapses in the prefrontal cortex of rats. Moreover, blockade of mTOR signaling completely blocked ketamine induction of synaptogenesis and behavioral responses in models of depression. Our results demonstrate that these effects of ketamine are opposite to the synaptic deficits that result from exposure to stress and could contribute to the fast antidepressant actions of ketamine.

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“The resulting protein synthesis and neuronal alterations in the medial prefrontal cortex are the opposite of those produced by chronic stress….”

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If that is you, see an addictionologist, not me.

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Some medications can be drugs of abuse but every patient and every medication that I dispense is followed meticulously. If any sign of misuse or abuse, that unfortunate person is immediately discharged and referred elsewhere.